Apparatus for dispensing sheet materials



2 Sheets-Sheet l O iuiild fiLO/N 77 ATTORNEY %INVENT W. FAIRCHILD APPARATUS FOR DISPENSING SHEET MATERIALS Original Filed March 6, 1929 Oct. 31, 1933a w RAM. a. wlmmm U MN P i \N 3 z N u 6.

Oct. 31, 1933. w FA|RH|LD 1,932,926

APPARATUS FOR DISPENSING SHEET MATERIALS Original Filed March 6, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 L l l q INVENTOR i l 7 w g ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 31, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE APPARATUS FOR DISPENSING SHEET MATERIALS William Fairchild, Albany, N. Y., assignor to A. P. W. Paper Company, Inc., Albany, N. Y., a corporation of New York.

Original. application March 6, 1929, Serial No.

Divided and this application June 30,

1931. Serial No. 547,819

. 2 Claims. (01. 31253) such other objects as may hereinafter appear,

the invention consists in the construction, combination, and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and then sought to be defined in the appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, and which show merely for the purpose of illustrative disclosure, a preferred embodiment of my invention, it being expressly understood, however, that various changes may be made in practice within the scope of the claims without digressing from my inventive idea.

, In the drawings,-

Figure 1 represents a transverse vertical section taken substantially centrally of the device.

Figure 2 is a front elevation withparts shown in section to facilitate the disclosure.

Figure 3 is a horizontal section taken substantially on line 33 of Figure 1. I

Figure 4 is aside elevation of the device with parts in section and showing the chain driving means for connecting the coin controlled mechanism and the feeding rolls. 7

Figures 5, 6 and "I are diagrammatic views showing the progress of an article being dispensed.

Referring now to the drawings, the reference character 1 designates a dispensing cabinet having a rear wall 2, top 3, and the sides 4 and 5. The rear wall 2 is provided with a-plurality of holes, whereby the dispensing cabinet maybe secured to any desired surface, as, for example, a wall. The rear wall 2 is provided with U-shaped brackets 6 and 7 having hook-shaped ends 8 and 9 adapted to receive and support a removable contained filled with articles to be dispensed. The container will be described more fully later. The side portions or walls 4 and 5 are connected at the front of the cabinet by a verticalportion 10, and an inclined portion, 11, and at the botportion 12.

A front member 13 is provided which is hinged as as 14 (Figure 3), and is provided with a top portion 15 adapted to fit over top portion?) of the cabinet. At its lower end the front member is provided withan inclined wall 16 corresponding in shape and position to the Wall 11 of the cabinet. The side wall 5 and the side member 15 of the front member 13 are provided with alined slots or cutaway portions which co-operate to form means for removably supporting an spaced parallel vertical angle bars 21 which are adapted to maintain the container in proper alinement. The container 18 is provided on its rear portion 22 with angular recesses 23 for receiving the angle bars 21. The container has side walls 24 and 25 which are provided at their 1 front with the flange portions'26, the flange per-- tions terminating, as at 27, at some distance be low the top of the cabinet to permit the insertion of a package of articles to be dispensed.

The bottom of the container 18 is provided with a removable mouthpiece 28 which includes the end portions 29 provided with slots 30 for I attachment to the side walls 24 and 25 of container 18 by means of screws 31. By means of this construction the mouthpiece 28 is adjustably secured to or mounted on the lower end of the container and it is possible to adjust the mouthpiece with respect to the dispensing apparatus later to be described. The mouth-- piece also includes the converging Z-shaped angle members 32 which are spaced apartv at the bottom to provide the opening 33 adapted to form a passage for the articles to be dispensed.

The dispensing mechanism will now be described. Positioned beneath the removable container 18 in the dispensing cabinet are the cooperating rolls 34 and 35; the first of these rolls being knurled and the other roll being provided with flutes. The rolls 34 and 35 have circumferenceswhich are substantially equal to twothirds of the length of a towel to be dispensed. This construction is especially adapted for use with interfolded towels where it is necessary to only advance two folds of the interfolded towel, since one fold of each adjacent towel is interfolded. At the beginning of the operation one fold of the towel extends below the co-operating rolls 34 and 35, as shown in Figure 1, and when a coin is inserted in the coin actuating mechanism, it will be necessary to advance the towel two-thirds of its length.

The rolls are supported in the cabinet by the following construction. Roll 34 is provided with the shaft 36 and roll 35 is provided with the shaft 37, the shafts 36 and 37 being received in, and supported by, the two end brackets 38 and 39. These brackets 38 and 39 are attached to and supported upon a transverse bracket .40, L-shaped in cross section, and which rests on Z-shaped bracket 41 positioned on the bottom thereof to support the same from the bottom of the cabinet. 39 for shaft 36 are elongated so as to permit movement of roll 34 with respect to fluted roll 35. The shaft 36 of knurled roll 34 is mounted in sliding journal bearings 42 at the ends thereof, which are forced forwardly toward the roll '35 by means of the springs 43. Adjacent one end the rolls 34 and 35 are provided with the gears 44 and 45 located on the shafts 36 and 37, respectively, of the rolls. The gears are in mesh, and are adapted to operate the rolls in opposite directions in unison.

The shaft 37 of the fluted roll 35 extends beyond the end bracket 39 and has a bearing in the bracket 46 secured to L-shaped bracket 46. Secured to this shaft 37 intermediate the brackets 39 and 46 is a sprocket 47 adapted to be actuated by chain 48 (see Figure 4). The chain 48 extends from upper sprocket 49, which may be interconnected with a coin controlled mechanism generally designated as at 50. The coin controlled mechanism includes a plate 51 provided with the peripheral notch 52 into which fits the projection 53 of the arm 54 which is resiliently held by spring 55. When the coin is inserted into the mechanism, the arm 54 with the projection 53 is lifted out of the notch and the plate 51 is given one rotation by the handle 17. When the notch is returned to the position shown in Figure 4, the resiliently mounted arm 54 is moved downwardly so that the projection 53 falls into notch 52 and prevents the plate 51 from any further rotation. The sprockets 47 and 49 have the same number of teeth, and one rotation of the plate gives one rotation of the co-operating rolls 34 and 35 so as to advance a towel substantially two-thirds of its length as herein before described. The chain 48 is provided with a slight slack so as to compensate for any unevenness in the folds of the towels at the point of contact between the rolls 34 and 35, and also permit a relative movement between the parts in order to accurately position and aline the coin receiving parts of the coin mechanism.

It will be apparent from the description that the feeding mechanism, including the rolls 34 and 35, is removable as a unit when the chain 48 is disconnected from the sprocket 47.

A ratchet means 55 is provided for permitting rotation of the handle 17 in one direction, but preventing rotation in a reverse direction. The bottom portion of cabinet 1 is provided with an elongated deliverymouthpiece formed The openings in brackets 38 and by the spaced mouth plates 56 and 57 which are secured at their side edges to the brackets 38 and 39 and provide the passageway 58 for the articles to be dispensed. The length of the mouthpiece is made less than the width of a towel so that the towel will project from the bottom of the mouthpiece before the other end has left the rolls 84 and 35. The bottom portion of these plates is cut away as at 59 to form narrow recesses and to provide a means for the purchaser to grasp the article to be dispensed and remove it from the device, but which prevent a strong grasp being taken of the article to exert a jerking force thereon. Also the plates 56 and 57 are elongated and before the towel (or other article) reaches the bottom of the passage 58 between these plates, it has nearly reached the end of its movement between the rolls 34 and 35.

At the right end of the cabinet, as shown in Figure 2, a chamber 60 is provided for receiving a laterally movable money box. It is to be noted that the coin receiving mechanism 50 is positioned at the top of the device so that a large coin receiving space is provided.

Figures 5,6 and 7 represent a diagrammatic showing of the manner in which an interfolded towel is dispensed. The interfolded towels are arranged in a packet, each in the form resulting from being folded in the middle, and then having the folded towel arranged in Z-form with the two ends of the towel extending over the folded edge of the next succeeding towel. The towels are so arranged in the device that the folded portion extends from the device and when this towel is grasped and removed by the purchaser, the two ends which surround the folded end of the next towel are pulled past the rolls 34 and 35. Since the knurled roll is spring pressed, the rolls hold the towel tightly therebetween and when the free ends of the lowermost towel are moved beyond the contacting surface of the rolls, no further rotation takes place and the rolls hold the folded end of the towel within the device. Due to the long mouthpiece formed by plates 56 and 57, it is impossible for the purchaser to tamper with the device and to obtain more than one towel. Furthermore, the knurled roll and the fluted roll co-operate to positively advance only one towel.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that I have invented a device which will dispense only one article for one coin.

This case is filed as a division of my co-pending case on Appara tus for dispensing Serial No. 344,848, filed March 6, 1929, which has become Patent No. 1,876,649 dated Sept. 13, 1932.

What I claim is:

1. A device of the character described, including, in combination, a cabinet adapted to receive interfolded'towels, a plurality of feeding rolls, one of said rolls being kniu'led and another of said rolls being fluted, an elongated mouthpiece adjacent said rolls, means for actuating said rolls a predetermined amount so that when one end of the dispensed towel reaches the bottom of the mouthpiece the other end is nearly past said rolls and the next towel tobe dispensed is held between said rolls, the fluted roll and knurled roll co-operating to positively advance a towel.

2. In a device of the type for delivery between 'feed rolls of a towel from a stack of such towels so interfolded that when one towel is delivered the next towel will be fed partway through said ioa partially fed position and then prevent any further rotation of said rolls, and a cabinet for said towels, said cabinet being provided with an elongated mouthpiece, so proportioned that a towel cannot be grasped until the said rotation of said rolls is substantially completed. 7

WILLIAM FAIRCHILD. 

